The Ballenas JV Whalers closed out their regular season with a 38-6 win over the Nanaimo Islanders in BC Secondary Schools Football Association action at Kwalikum Secondary field on Wednesday, Oct. 30.
It was a positive comeback win for the Whalers, who prior to Wednesday's game were badly beaten by the Triple-A Belmont Bulldogs 54-0.
Head coach Mike Seselja used the opportunity to give all the players ample playing time against the Islanders, who are in a rebuilding stage and only had a handful of Grade 10 players in their roster.
"We got to play everybody today which was awesome," said Seselja. "We threw some balls to kids that didn't get thrown much. They dominated the game and finished strong."
The Whalers offence was led by quarterback Tyler Robinson, who scored three touchdowns with one coming from a rare throwback play that Seselja said was just introduced to him by offensive co-ordinator Roger Boyer, who got it from a college friend in the United States.
"He (Roger) showed it to me and I said 'let's do it,'" said Seselja. "We started the second half with that play. It's sort of a trick play and we don't do that many trick plays. It was a throwback to the quarterback and he had a bunch of linemen blocking for him and made it to the end zone. They executed it very well. We practised it a couple of times against our senior team. The senior team stopped it so I was worried about it but it worked out well."
Robinson got the play going when he quickly handed the ball to wide receiver Lee Jordan who immediately tossed the ball back to Robinson, who was able to weave around the Islanders defence for a 60-yard touchdown run.
Although things mostly went the Whalers' way, there were moments when they squandered scoring opportunities. They had several touchdowns called back due to penalties. Seselja said they can't afford to make these mistakes during the playoffs.
"We had a lot of penalties today," said Seselja. "Kids have to learn the rules of the game. They're playing intense and they want to be able to do something so they will make mistakes and have a few bad penalties there with come clutching and some hitting away from the play. That's learning the game. I keep on stressing the rules of the game and hopefully they get it."
Robinson threw for 166 yards and two touchdowns. One was a 36-yard catch-and-run to Malcolm Williams. The other was to Evan Williams who hauled down a 15-yard TD.
On defence, Matthew Crowie led the way with nine tackles
The JV Whalers will now prepare for the playoffs. At this time, they don't know who they will be playing in the post-season and when. Last year's JV Whalers made it all the way to the final at BC Place, where they ended up losing to Kelowna.
Seselja said they will continue to hone their game and will be holding most of their practices at Arbutus Meadows in Nanoose Bay.
Meanwhile, the Ballenas SV Whalers play their final regular season game on Friday, (Nov. 2) against the Nanaimo Islanders at NDSS.
